Two elite quarterbacks, two depleted defenses and two teams looking to earn their 10th win before heading into the offseason.
Those are just a few of the themes heading into the Holiday Bowl Wednesday night as No. 15 Oregon (9-3) and North Carolina (9-4) square off at Petco Park in San Diego.
The Ducks’ season began nearly four months ago with an embarrassing blowout loss to No. 1 Georgia, then was followed by eight straight wins before losing two of their final three games by a combined seven points to bitter rivals Washington and Oregon State.
Now, a month since its last game, Oregon returns to the field one last time in 2022 with a team that looks significantly different than when it last played but with the same expectation of success.
“We wanna go finish,” Oregon first-year coach Dan Lanning said. “We wanna finish this season with an exclamation point.”
Oregon is in their sixth straight bowl game, though the Ducks haven’t had the best results in the postseason in recent years.
Oregon has lost five of their last seven bowl games, including their last two — the 2021 Alamo Bowl to Oklahoma (47-32) and the 2020 Fiesta Bowl to Iowa State (34-17).
Against the Tar Heels, Oregon will be playing a team that has lost three straight, including in the ACC Championship game to Clemson.
Lanning said North Carolina’s body of work throughout the season is impressive. “You wanna play a good team and we got fortunate enough to play a good team in a bowl game,” he said.
Here are three questions facing the Ducks heading into the Holiday Bowl:
Bo Nix or Drake Maye: Who will rise to the occassion?
For sure, Bo Nix and Drake Maye were among the very best players in college football this season. Though they won’t be directly competing against each other, the two quarterbacks give the Holiday Bowl a marquee positional matchup.
Until injuring his ankle in the final minutes of the Washington game, Nix was a potential Heisman Trophy candidate and had the Ducks positioned for a spot in the College Football Playoffs.
His injury took away his dual-threat abilities but he still finished the regular season completing 271-of-379 passes for 3,389 yards, 27 touchdowns and six interceptions. His completion percentage of 71.5% ranks second in the nation.
Nix rushed for 504 yards (all in the first 10 games) and 14 touchdowns — the most by any FBS quarterback — and he also caught a touchdown pass.
Nix said earlier this month his ankle has improved significantly with the time off and he’s ready to face a North Carolina defense that lost several members of its secondary — including both starting cornerbacks — to the transfer portal and was allowing 276.4 passing yards and 31.0 points per game.
Maye was the ACC player of the year, freshman of the year and offensive player of the year and ranked in the top-10 nationally in total yards (4,768) and total touchdowns (42).
In 13 games, he completed 324-of-482 passes (67.2%) for 4,115 yards, 35 touchdowns and seven interceptions, and also ran for a team-high 653 yards and seven TDs.
“He’s a good quarterback, man,” Lanning said. “There’s lot’s of things that go into being a good quarterback, but decision-making, being able to throw a ball into tight spaces … He gets the opportunity to make decsions and he’s shown that he can do that at a really high level.”
Maye will face an Oregon defense that allowed 260.6 yards and 27.42 points per game. He’ll also be without leading target Josh Downs. The wide receiver declared for the NFL draft after finishing the season with 94 catches, 1,029 yards and 11 TDs.
Can the Ducks overcome their deficiencies on defense?
The Ducks go into the game without three of their best defensive players and most of their depth at linebacker.
Top cornerback and interception leader Christian Gonzalez, three-year starting linebacker and No. 2 leading tackler Noah Sewell, and outside linebacker and sack leader DJ Johnson have left the team to start NFL Draft prep.
Among the players who entered the transfer portal this month were reserve linebackers Justin Flowe (Arizona), Jackson LaDuke (Nevada), Adrian Jackson (Nevada), Brandon Buckner (Middle Tennessee State), Jaden Navarrette and Jabril McNeill, as well as reserve defensive end Bradyn Swinson (LSU).
That leaves the Ducks with just three experienced linebackers — Mase Funa, Jeffrey Bassa and Keith Brown — and then essentially a group of freshmen – Anthony Jones, Emar’rion Winston, Harrison Taggart and Devon Jackson – who have played very little or not at all this season.
“It’s definitely a weird feeling having some guys not with us that we had before,” defensive back Bennett Williams said. “But for us, it doesn’t feel like ‘Uh oh.’ For us, it feels like these are the guys we’re rocking with because these are the guys that wanted to be here and wanted to stay. We’re still gonna come out there and compete like hell.”
Can Oregon shake off the long break and roster upheaval?
It’s been an eventful month since the Ducks were left shellshocked in Reser Stadium in Corvallis after giving up a 21-point second-half lead in a 38-34 loss to the Beavers.
That loss knocked Oregon out of the Pac-12 Championship game and potentially a spot in the Rose Bowl.
“We’re definitely using it a little bit for this game,” Williams said of the sting from the Oregon State loss. “We’ve done a great job of bouncing back off of adversity every time this year after a loss coming back and playing really well.”
Along with those already mentioned, the Ducks will be without at least 20 players who either jumped into the transfer portal or who are opting out of the game.
“Anyone that can contribute, let’s go,” Lanning said. “This is an opportunity for guys to make an impact … Nobody really goes into the bowl game with the same group that they had anymore. That’s what’s changed in college football, so they have to adapt, we have to adapt.”
Oregon also lost its offensive coordinator as Kenny Dillingham became the head coach at Arizona State. He was replaced by Will Stein, who has been with the Ducks for a couple of weeks. Offensive play-calling duties against North Carolina will be handled by tight ends coach Drew Mehringer and wide receivers coach Junior Adams.
Through it all, Lanning and his staff also signed a Top 10 recruiting class on Dec. 21.
“It’s the name of the game,” Lanning said about the chaotic month. “Right now one of the biggest things about college football is who can adapt the best and who can handle all the adjustments required and we’ve got a great staff that’s done a good job of that.”
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter@chansen_RG or email atchansen@registerguard.com.
For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.
Holiday Bowl
No. 15 Oregon (9-3) vs. North Carolina (9-4)
5 p.m. Wednesday at Petco Park, San Diego . TV: Fox. Radio: : KUJZ-FM (95.3), Sirius (133), XM (197)
